Rise of Hope
by wacko12
Summary: Redo of the story. Post DOTM, my take on what happened afterward
1. Reunion

**This is a redo of my other story, "Coming of the End and the Rise of Hope", so I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Optimus was waiting at the Kennedy Space Port. What they were waiting for was the _Longshot_ another Autobot ship that had been commandeered by half of the Autobots on Earth. The crew consisted of Elita-1, Arcee, Chromia, the Twins and Jolt. Their mission was to setup an advance communication disk on Mars, in order to direct more Autobots to them. Communication with them had been low, due to fear that the Decepticons might track them.

"Optimus I have a visual on them." Roadbuster reported. He and the Wreckers had agreed to stay at the spaceport, keep an eye on the ship when it landed. What he said was true, the _Longshot_ had just come out of the clouds towards the landing pad. Optimus felt his spark warm up at the signal of joy that his mate Elita-1 was sending to him. But he could also feel some sadness, which made him remember that the triplets were linked by sparks. Chromia must be in pain due to the lack of feeling she is getting from her bond with Ironhide now that the mech was dead. Not even Optimus could believe it, Sentinel turning on them, killing Ironhide without mercy. Wheeljack was the next one to go, executed by Decepticons. Hopefully Ratchet's idea will save them.

When the ship landed and the doors opened, the first one out was Elita-1, who zoomed straight over to Optimus and embraced him in a hug, sending out more love then she had ever before. Optimus was surprise at first but return the gesture. Neither months nor years could affect the love they had for each other. "Welcome back" Optimus said as they let go each other. "I assume that everything went well?"

Elita nodded. "Better than that my love, more Autobots came to Mars and came with us down to Earth." She said.

Optimus optics widened as he looked at the ships door. Coming out first was Jolt, Ratchet's trainee, then Arcee, the youngest of the triplets along with the twins Skids and Muflap. Behind them were four more mechs. One of the mech looked like Bumblebee except he was red. The second one was tall and had green armor and three fingers and one thumb. The third one was about Jazz's size, except he was white and black and had door wings. And the last one was a short silver and black armored mech.

"Prowl, Hound, Cliffjumper, Trailbreaker its good to see you again." Optimus said as they stood before him. They all nodded while Prowl gave a salute.

Optimus smiled at the mechs until the one femme that he knew he would have to face sooner or later came out of the ship. As Chromia slowly rolled out into view, her head down and her usual confident attitude gone. When she picked her head up for the Prime to see, his spark nearly broke. Her optics were dimmed and it was clear she had been weeping for dry fluid was still on her face.

"Optimus…" She murmured, her voice with a hopeful tone.

Knowing what she was going to ask, Optimus replied solemnly. "I am sorry Chromia. He is gone."

The blue femme broke down and cried, with her sister coming to her side. Elita-1 had a confused look on her face and turned to her mate. "I don't understand Optimus, how could this have happened?"

Optimus looked at her and the gathered Autobots. "I'll explain on the way home."

Once he had finished his tale, did Optimus begin his, of what had transpired here while Elita's team had been on Mars. The long lost Autobot ship, the _Ark _had been found on the Moon, along with its Captain, Sentinel Prime, and his pillars. But apparently it was all planned, Sentinel betrayed the Autobots, killing Ironhide in the process. Then the Decepticons nearly wiped out all the humans in the city of Chicago, using it as a staging ground to bring Cybertron to them. The Autobots managed to lead a surprise offense on the Decepticons, but resulted in Wheeljack's death. In the end they managed to prevail, Cybertron was sent back through the space-bridge, Sentinel, Megatron, and many Decepticon officers were killed. The Decepticons were scattered across the globe, leaderless.

"We couldn't risk contacting you, out of fear that the Decepticons might be able to trace it and since your mission was vital." Optimus said as he explained why they weren't told any of this.

Finally they arrived to their destination: Diego Garcia, the base of NEST. Now with the Decepticon threat to a minimum and with more Autobots arriving, the government thought it was only fair that the Autobots have a more wide and spread out headquarters. Not all felt like the Autobots deserve it, like Galloway and a few top officers, but the decision was final.

"Yo wats up home boys?" Skids asked as he and the others got off the transport plane once they landed. The other Autobots had gathered to greet their comrades after such a stressful time. Ratchet patted his student, Jolt's shoulder in welcome and greeted Prowl. Sideswipe and Cliffjumper bumped fist while Mirage welcomed Hound and Trailbreaker, shaking their hands. Bumblebee gave Arcee a hugged while Chromia stood to the side, still weeping over her mate's death. Everyone knew she needed to be alone so they didn't complain.

There was one other surprise for the newly arrived…

"Hatchlings!" Arcee exclaimed as she and the others walked inside one of the hangars that served as the med bay. Laying on several layers of beds and blankets with energy convertors plugged into them were thirteen little mechs and femmes, purring away peacefully in recharge. Elita-1 moved one of her hands to stroke a hatchling's head, resulting in the little one to click sleepily in response before snuggling deeper into the soft material.

"Where…where did you find them?" She asked with shock, almost unable to believe that they were real.

"There actually Decepticon hatchlings, we discovered them in Africa after the battle of Chicago. We could not leave them to die so we brought them back with us to care for." Optimus explained.

Elita-1 nodded as she turned back to look at them. "Have caretakers been chosen for them yet?" She asked.

Optimus shook his head, "No we planned on waiting for more Autobots to come to decide. Also Ratchet deems they need more time to charge until we can decide caretakers." Then he began walking towards another section of the hangar.

Whatever it was a curtain covered it, but Chromia felt something…something warm and familiar. Before she could ask what Ratchet pulled the curtain revealing something that shocked the femmes, Jolt, the twins and the newcomers.

Standing on a table were not one, but four spark casings, glowing with the sparks inside them. They had tubes and wires connected into them, keeping them charged. Chromia rolled up to the to the far right, almost touching it. "Ironhide…" She murmured.

Optimus nodded. "What you see before you are the sparks of Jazz, Jetfire, Wheeljack and Ironhide. Ratchet managed to save Ironhide's before the rust reached it and Wheeljack's required another casing for his, with plenty of those lying around in Chicago. We managed to bring back what remained of Jetfire's spark as well as Jazz."

"What about their CPU memory banks?" Elita-1 asked.

"Ratchet has copies of all theirs and can be downloaded into a new body." Optimus explained.

"Jetfire's might be a little fuzzy since there was little left of him when we used his parts for armor, but he should still be fully functional." Ratchet added.

Jolt looked at the sparks before turning his attention to his leader. "So what's the plan Optimus?" He asked.

Optimus turned to look at the assemble Autobots. "With the _Longshot_ and her crew now back with us, along with clearance from the human government, I plan to take a team back to the Ark and recover several Protoform bodies to use as our decease comrades new vessels." Then he put a hand on Sideswipe's shoulder. "In my absence you shall be in charge of the Autobots down here on Earth until I return."

Sideswipe nodded, his face beaming with pride. Prowl however was not convinced. "Excuse me Optimus, but since I'm the second highest rank here. I think it would make more sense for me to be in charge while you're away."

Optimus turned towards Prowl. "That is true Prowl. But Sideswipe is more familiar with the humans and has worked alongside them longer. You may act as his second in command and give advice for decisions."

Prowl wasn't happy with the idea but didn't argue. "Yes sir"

"By the way Prime who are you taking with you?" Hound asked.

"Just Ratchet and the Wreckers, I want to see if we can salvage anything from the ship when we get there." Optimus explained. "Roller shall stay here in case something goes wrong."

Mirage nodded, "That makes sense, if anyone cane make use of junk its either the Wreckers or Wheeljack."

"We will be leaving in two days to head towards the moon. Until then we shall relax after the stressful battle that had occurred." Optimus wanted to spend time with Elita-1 after being separated for what seemed like an eternity. Everyone nodded at the order and soon began to go their separate ways. Optimus, Elita, Prowl and Sideswipe went one way to discuss about what the temporary leader should do. Bumblebee, Arcee, Mirage and Jolt went to the training room. Skids and Mudflap went to play their video games while Ratchet took the newcomers to the med bay to be given a check up.

Only Chromia stood where she was, looking at her mate's spark. She looked at it longingly, trying to communicate it through their bond. But she got nothing, making her sigh in defeat.

A squeak got her attention, causing her to turn around and look at the bundles of hatchlings. The one who squeaked was a femme, with pinkish red armor, with big blue optics looking at Chromia hands raised. Knowing what she wanted Chromia rolled over to the large berth, picking the fragile infant into her arms, and began to cradle her. The hatchling cooed in content as she put one of her small hands into her mouth and looked up at the older femme. Chromia couldn't help but let out a small smile.

"Hope" she said as she held the hatchling to her chest, her spark chamber. "Hope is still here."

**Here are their alt modes**

**Prowl: Police Dodge Charger**

**Hound: Green Rubicon Jeep Wrangler**

**Cliffjumper: Red Camaro**

**Trailbreaker: Black SUV**


	2. Secure

**Next Chapter. Enjoy and Review**

_Four days after Optimus's team left for the moon…_

Sideswipe rolled down the street of Diego Garcia, looking around aimlessly. Sure he was now leader until Optimus returned, but there was really nothing else to do. No Decepticon sightings were picked up, either they were hiding or planning their next move was unsure.

Currently the Autobots and human allies were doing whatever they do. Colonel Lennox was going over some paperwork with Prowl, Epps and the other soldiers were playing a game of poker and Simmons was taking a nap. Mirage was sharpening his blades at the training field. Jolt was tending to his garden behind the hangars, mumbling about it being uncared for. Cliffjumper was testing out his new alt mode's weapons and Hound was scanning the local terrain on the island. Skids and Mudflap were playing one of their videogames and Trailbreaker, Bumblebee and the femmes were hanging out with the hatchlings.

Sideswipe took a turn into the nursery home where Trailbreaker, Bee and femmes were. The hatchlings were on a wider mattress, crawling all over the place, squeaking and clicking. Arcee had picked one up and was feeding it a bottle of energon. Chromia was handing a toy to another hatchling, who had begun to fiddle with it.

"The kids behaving?" Sideswipe asked.

Elita looked up. "They're a little hyper but I think that is because they just got out of recharge.

Sideswipe nodded and bent down and rubbed the head of the closes one. The hatchling let out a squeak at the touch and then tried to take a nibble of the large digit finger. But Sideswipe pulled away to fast for the little one. "Sorry kiddo no eating the finger." The temporary leader said.

The hatchling gave a squeak of annoyance, but was quickly calmed down when Arcee picked him up and rubbed his back. The hatchling soon went into recharge due to the relaxing feeling. As he did the femme gave Sideswipe a glare. "No taunting the hatchlings." She scolded.

Suddenly the alarms started to go off, resulting in the hatchlings to squeal in fright. The femmes tried desperately to calm them down while Sideswipe yelled. "Turn that off for Primus's sake!"

Soon the alarm was shut off as soldiers began heading towards the planes. Sideswipe spotted Lennox and rolled up to him. "Yo Colonel, what's going on? Decepticons attacking some important city?"

Will's face was one of terror and worry. "Worse, their heading towards my house."

* * *

Annabelle lazily spun her spoon in her cereal, sadness on her face. She was still upset over the death of her favorite Autobot Ironhide. She wouldn't do anything active or fun, her joy all taken away by the death of her best friend.

Suddenly the house started to shake violently, catching her attention. Then out of nowhere her Mom ran into the kitchen with a frantic look on her face. "Annabelle" She said with relief.

The six-year old girl gave a worried look at her mother. "Mommy, what's going on?"

The woman said nothing she just picked up her daughter and ran out of the house. Once they were out Annabelle got a good look of what was making all the noise. It was bad robots, five of them currently, breaking through the house's upper parts. Mother and Daughter had just made it to their second car (The 1st being Ironhide) When a sixth Con suddenly appeared, and stomped on the car.

Annabelle screamed in shock, but showed no signs of fear, while Sara tried to shield her when all of a sudden the Con was blasted in the face. This caught everyone's attention as the Con fell dead. A green jeep appeared, followed by several others. When it transformed, Annabelle saw the blue optics and knew they were saved.

"Autobot!" She cried as more familiar vehicles approached. Sideswipe transformed alongside Hound, Jolt, Prowl, Mirage, Cliffjumper, Bumblebee and the Twins, swords out and a snarl on his face. He turned towards Bumblebee. "Bee, get them out of here! Take the twins with you!"

Mudflap was the first one to reach the humans, followed by Skids. Annabelle held her arms out towards the orange bot, who picked her up, while his twin picked up Sara. Then they took her to the already transformed yellow car and placed them inside. As Bumblebee drove off Skids and Mudflap quickly followed.

Sideswipe watched the trio head back towards the human blockade set up a few miles out, before he turned towards the Cons. Jolt and Mirage had already joined up with him, Hound, Cliffjumper and Prowl was flying in the sky, waiting for orders. "What were your plans for them if you captured them?" Sideswipe asked the Cons.

The tallest one, who must've been the leader, moved forward while taking out his plasma cannon. "Our plan was to use them as hostages for supplies. But seeing how that failed, we'll just use your empty metal carcasses as food!"

The Decepticons charged, desperation blocking their logic as they were attacking heavily armed opponents, but the Autobots used this to their advantage. Prowl fired his shield cannon at the nearest Con, blowing apart a huge chunk of armor. Because of the long days of not getting any repairs to their armor, the Cons were easily cut down by the Autobot's firepower. Sideswipe fired several shots at a Decepticon, knocking him down and then lunged his swords into another Con's chest. Jolt was shooting down another Con while Mirage decapitated another. Hound was wrestling a Con and had just managed to fire several shots into his chest. Two more Cons gave chase towards Bumblebee's group with Cliffjumper right behind them. Cliffjumper transformed and tackled the closes Decepticon, sending him tumbling into the forest. The wrestled for a few more minutes when Cliffjumper got the upper hand and delivered the killing blow by slamming both fists down onto the Con's head.

The last one tried to make a grab at Bumblebee, but Skids and Mudflap had transformed and grabbed his legs. "Yo, you an't touchin our home girl ya punk!" Skids yelled as he started banging his fists against the Con's waist. As he struggled against the twins, he was unprepared for Bumblebee to attack him with his stealth force mode. The constant barrage of armaments was too much for the Con and he basically fell to pieces.

Sideswipe then rolled up to the three, looking at what he saw he gave a satisfied nod. "Sideswipe to Colonel Lennox, enemies have been neutralized and the civilians are secured. Ready for transport. "

* * *

"And basically that's what happened." Sideswipe said. Currently he, Prowl and Lennox were talking to Optimus over a screen, telling them about recent events. Optimus had a worried look on his face at the news.

"I was afraid that the Decepticons might try a trick such as this." Optimus mumbled and then turned to face Lennox. "May I first say Colonel Lennox, that I am sorry that we've brought this on to your family at such a bad time."

Lennox shrugged. "Its no big deal Optimus. Sara always knew that my work might affect her so there's nothing to worry about."

Optimus bowed his head in respect before Prowl spoke. "I think it would be safer if we kept Sara and Annabelle Lennox here until you guys get back from the moon."

Optimus shook his head, followed by Lennox. "How are you doing up there by the way?" Lennox asked.

Optimus moved to the side, showing Ratchet working on a protoform body while the Wreckers could be heard digging through the ship from the background. "So far we managed to get one body put together. Ratchet is working on the second one right now, and the Wreckers are trying to repair the ship right now. How's it on your end?"

Sideswipe shrugged. "Beside the whole mess that happened everything else is fine. Kids are behaving well enough; I think they just needed some love from the femmes. I just hope we have enough people to care for them."

"Sideswipe they are race's young ones. We shall take care of them no matter what happens. Is that understood?" Optimus said with a stern look.

Sideswipe nodded, and then Optimus continued. "I must go now. Sideswipe I suggest you assign Annabelle and Sara some bodyguards while their here."

Prowl and Sideswipe saluted Optimus. "Yes sir" They both said.

An hour later Sideswipe was heading towards the hangar where the hatchlings were, along with the femmes, twins, Annabelle and her mother. Lennox and Prowl had gone to give a report to the General. When he entered the hangar he saw Annabelle staring at the hatchlings who were staring right back at her. The femmes were talking with Sara while the twins were watching the young ones. Sideswipe smirked when Annabelle covered her face, causing the hatchlings to squeak in annoyance, but then to laugh when Annabelle revealed her face with her tongue sticking out. Skids and Mudflap rolled on the floor laughing like crazy. "So I guess their getting along fine?" Sideswipe asked.

Elita-1 shook her head. "Yes Annabelle was quite fascinated by the hatchlings, probably because she's never seen one before." Then she whispered. "It seems to take her mind off Ironhide too."

Out of all the humans Ironhide has met, Annabelle was the closes to him. She had this unique ability to bring out the softer side in the old veteran that no one has ever seen before, say Chromia. When news about his death reached the Lennox's household, Annabelle cried for hours, upset about the loss of her best friend. Her tears affected the Autobots too, because to them she was like their own youngling, and one thing was for certain, Autobots hated to see their younglings upset.

Jolt came through and walked up to Sideswipe. "We have a problem" He whispered and then motioned the temporary leader over to the side. "I've managed to hack in the Decepticon's private channels from the corpses and found out some disturbing news."

Sideswipe cocked his head to the side. "Like what?"

Jolt continued. "Well apparently they were at a summoning of Decepticons at a junkyard in the U.S. From what I could tell they were preparing to sacrifice two Cybertronians for some kind of insane ritual."

Sideswipe's optics widened in shock. "Were you able to get a lock on the coordinates?"

The blue bot nodded. "Yes and if my calculations are correct, that happened at least seven hours ago. So we still might make it there and stop them."

The silver bot nodded. "Okay call Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, and Hound here quickly and inform Colonel Lennox. We've got some bots to save."


	3. Recruit

Lennox commanded some of the men to secure the exits of the junkyard. There were no helicopters above the yard though, which made searching a little bit more difficult. The Autobots were waiting at the side and prepared for battle while in alt mode.

It was agreed that letting the Con's know that they were here would be bad for them and for the captives. The Decepticons might try to use them as hostages or worse. While the human soldiers were securing the exits of the junkyard, the Autobots would move in and search for the enemy.

After confirmation from Epps, Lennox gave the signal. "Mirage and Bumblebee you're with me on the left." Sideswipe said. "Jolt, take Skids, Mudflap, Elita-1, Chromia and Arcee with you to the right. The rest of you shall remain here as back-up."

The bots headed into the junkyard going to their separate ways. Once they were in deep enough they transformed into robot mode. With Jolt's group, Skids and Mudflap had climbed up on top a hill of destroyed cars. "Yo us see anythin Mudflap?" Skids asked as he scanned the area.

Mudflap shook his head. "Nah man. Dis place is dead empty." He replied. Jolt scanned a 10-yard perimeter of the junkyard. "They're right, I'm not picking up anything in this area." The blue bot said.

Arcee's optics widened as she tried to enhance her vision. Suddenly she picked up something. "I see some activity that way!" She shouted as she raced over to the spot, followed by the others. As they got closer they hid behind a large pile of junk and were given a shock of what they saw.

They were at least twenty Decepticons, all munching on metal. To the right they were four guarding what appeared to be prisoners. One had white and blue armor and the other had red armor, and both looked beaten up and down. Some of the Cons gave them unpleasant looks too.

"Wat do ya suppose dey are plannin to do to dem?" Skids whispered.

The blue bot stared carefully. "This is my guess but I think those Cons have gone cannibal." Jolt murmured. "And it looks like those two are on the menu." Then he pressed his arm. "I'm going to contact Sideswipe and let them know that we found the Cons. Elita, try and-"

"Charge!" Skids shouted and soon he and his twin ran out of their hiding spot and towards the Cons. The Decepticons barely had anytime to react before one of them was tackled and being beaten to a pulp by the twins. Jolt and the femmes stared in shock before coming back to their senses. "Guess we have no choice. We'll hold them off until the others get here.

Then Jolt and the femmes activated their weapons and charged as well. Jolt tackled a large Con to the ground, wrestling him for control. The femmes had begun their usual hit and run tactics, striking an enemy and then retreating somewhere safe when they were done. Skids and Mudflap were busy slamming their fists onto another Con, causing him to flail around like crazy. The others just stood back and watch, deciding on what to do.

Jolt dodged a punch from his opponent and then flipped him over with one of his whips. The Con activated his plasma cannon and was about to fire, but Jolt managed to fire an electric blast inside the cannon, overloading it and causing it to explode. Then Jolt wrapped his whip around the Con's neck, pulling hard on it until the Con's head snapped off from his body.

"Skids, Mudflap! Help those two out of their chains!" Jolt shouted as he fired at more Cons, pushing them back. The femmes then joined him and proceeded at firing at the Cons.

The Twins raced over to the hostages and started tugging at their chains. The white one managed to mutter, "Who-who are you guys?" He asked.

Skids turned away from his tugging and looked up at him. "We da good guys! Dats all ya need ta know." Skids shouted as he bit on the chains. The result was a loud crunch, followed by the chains coming off the bot. Soon the red bot's chains fell and both were freed. "Yo blue boy! Der free!" Mudflap shouted.

Jolt nodded before ducking from plasma fire. "Get them out of here!" He shouted.

Suddenly the other Autobots arrived, unleashing fury onto the enemies. Two teen twins, a junior medic and femmes were one thing to deal with, but these beat up Decepticons were no match for these more trained warriors. They tried to escape, but the high piles of garbage kept getting in the way, making escape difficult. But for the nimble Autobots, it was easy to maneuver and eliminate the Decepticon threat.

Once he pulled his sword out of the last Decepticon, Sideswipe turned towards Jolt. "Status?" He asked.

"Hostages are secured, though injured. I think when we get back to base I should run a diagnostic on them." Jolt said.

Sideswipe nodded and activated his communicator. "Colonel, hostages are secured. I'm sending Jolt's team back while my team looks for any remaining Decepticons."

"Ms. Chromia" Annabelle said sweetly. The said femme turned around, a hatchling and energon cube in her hands. The hatchling was sucking on it hungrily, with both of her hands on it, while Chromia made sure she didn't try to hold on her own.

"Yes little one?" She asked as she adjusted her arms so she could hold the hatchling better.

"Can I feed the babies too please?" Annabelle asked sweetly. Chromia smiled at this sweet gesture. "I'm sorry dear, but humans can't hold energon. Why don't you play with the other hatchlings?"

The other hatchlings that were being watched by the other femmes were playing with blocks and stuff toys, or awing or chewing on them. The sound of feet caught some of their attention and they turned around to see Mirage approaching them, along with the twins. A mechling, with red and black armor, squeaked at Bumblebee, wanting to play with him. The scout gave a light pat on the hatchling's head, who clicked in delight and began to play with his fingers.

Elita-1 rolled over to Bee, with a red and orange hatchling in her arms, clicking and squeaking. "How did it go?" She asked.

Bumblebee gave her a smile. "We gave those Cons a good bashing. We even managed to revive the two bots that we brought back with us." The scout said.

Elita's optics blinked. "You mean Autobots?"

Bumblebee shook his head. "No apparently their Allspark born."

"And so you have no idea how you came to be?" Jolt asked as he checked the red mech's left arm. The white mech shook his head.

"No all we remember is that we woke up three years ago and we've been on our own since." He said.

Sideswipe, who was standing there at the time asked. "Do you remember your designations?" The silver mech asked.

Both bots nodded and the red mech spoke first. "I'm Salvage, and this is Longarm." He said as he pointed to the blue and white bot. "Anyway, thank you so much for helping us. Is there anyway we can repay?" Salvage asked, with Longarm shaking his head.

Sideswipe looked at them seriously before saying, "Well we're low on Autobots here on Earth, want to join?" He asked.

Longarm and Salvage talked amongst themselves for a little bit before turning their heads back to Sideswipe. Both bots shook their heads in a way of yes.

"Is here good?" Hound asked as he held the metal fence in almost link with another.


	4. Defect

**Hope you all enjoy**

Time at Diego Garcia was going smoothly. It had been three weeks since Longarm and Salvage have joined the Autobots and so far no Decepticon activities have been spotted.

The Hatchlings have also finally been given designations. The triplets, two mechs and a femme, were named Road Rage, purple femme, Turbofire, yellow mech, and Excellion, the red mech. The twins, one white and blue and the other white and red, were named Cloudraker and Fastlane respectively. A blue and yellow femme was named Glyph and a red and blue mech was called Perceptor. A white and blue mech was called Bluestreak. A tan mech was named Downshift and a dark red femme was called Flare-up. A light blue femme was called Moonracer and a red one was called Firestar. The youngest, a red and black mech was called Blaster, while the only flyer, a white and black mech, was called Fireflight. Finally the last one, and oldest, a red and orange mech, was named Hot Rod. Caretakers have yet to been chosen for them, Optimus wanted to wait until more Autobots arrived.

Currently the hatchlings were playing with the twins, Bumblebee and Annabelle. Blaster, Hot Rod and Downshift were busy trying to climb up the yellow bot who rolled his optics in amusement. Skids and Mudflap were in their alt mode and carrying the triplets and twins in their passenger seat. The two amused the hatchlings by racing each other. The rest of the hatchlings were listening to Annabelle curiously as she read a story to them. Despite being told that the hatchlings were still too young to understand human language Annabelle continued to do what she thought was right.

Flare-up suddenly got up and began to toddle towards the incoming Chromia and Arcee, squeaking gleefully. Chromia smiled as she picked up the hatchling and began feeding her energon. Her sisters soon arrived, with more energon cubes and a tray of human food for Annabelle. As Elita-1 gave Annabelle her food, Arcee distributed the energon cubes to the hatchlings, which they began to drink quickly.

Arcee turned to look at Chromia, picking up Blaster as she did so. "I'm glad we can just relax for once. I've nearly forgotten what it's like after all the fighting we've done."

Chromia shrugged as she put Flare-up down and picked up an eager Downshift, who was squeaking for attention. "You forget sister I was part of the Defense Force. Fighting was all I knew really. But I admit that this does feel nice to just relax."

Their conversation was interrupted by two tired out Twins. Once they put down the hatchlings, Skids and Mudflap collapsed on one another. "Yo I win bro!" Skids said defiantly.

Mudflap shook his head tiredly. "No way man I win."

The two looked like they were about to fight but they were too tired from racing to really argue. The others just laughed at this in amusement while continuing to feed the hatchlings.

Hot Rod just watched the whole thing from afar, clicking to himself. Then he saw Elita-1's purple form rolling by. Squeaking, Hot Rod began to toddle his way over to her, hands up making a 'pick me up' motion. Elita finally spotted him and offered a small smile. "Hello there little one." She cooed as she picked him up. Hot Rod sighed and gave one last click before going into recharge and moving as close as he could to her spark pump.

Annabelle walked over to Bluestreak whose optics was wide open in puzzlement. When the girl made her way over to him, he squeaked fearfully and rolled into a ball, thinking he would be safe if he did so. Annabelle frowned before beginning to poke his back.

Arcee rolled up to Annabelle and said. "I think he's just shy sweetie. Why don't you leave him alone for a while and let him get use to you.

* * *

Cliffjumper hummed to himself as he checked his plasma cannon. So far this was all he could do besides training since the Decepticons haven't made any movements lately. Beside him Hound and Jolt were working on Jolt's garden. Hound had grown fond of Earth's natural landscape and wildlife. In fact he seemed to enjoy it more then Cybertron. Either way Jolt was happy to have someone to help him with the garden.

"Make sure that the little ones get the most water otherwise they'll die." Jolt said as he puffed up some bushes. Hound nodded before turning his head around to a groaning sound. "What is it now Cliffjumper?"

The red bot sighed as he got up. "Nothing I'm just bored. We haven't had a single Decepticon sighting in three weeks. I need to do something otherwise I'll rust." Then he raised his hand to stop Hound. "And I don't mean gardening."

Jolt shrugged. "You could help Trailbreaker give the tour of the island to Longarm and Salvage." The blue bot said.

Cliffjumper shrugged, transformed and drove off, leaving Hound and Jolt alone to their work. The two mechs looked at one another and then shrugged before returning back to the garden.

* * *

Mirage picked up one of Wheeljack's invention that was hanging around in his former lab. From what he could tell it was some kind of bomb of some sort, but the red bot couldn't even tell if it even worked. He let out a sigh before putting it back down and rummaging through some other stuff.

"Mirage what are you doing in here?" A voice asked. Mirage looked up to see Prowl walking into the hangar/laboratory.

The assassin sighed before speaking. "Nothing I was just rummaging through Wheeljack's items, trying to see if there was anything worth using while we wait for Optimus."

Prowl picked up some sort of device. From its size, it appeared to be made for humans. "I doubt it. No offense to Wheeljack, but his inventions was always hard to understand."

"Amen a che il mio amico" Mirage said as he continued rummaging through stuff. "Still it doesn't hurt to look. Beside when he comes back we're going to have the lab set up again for him to use."

Prowl nodded when he heard noises behind him. He turned around to see Trailbreaker leading Longarm and Salvage across the island. Then he raised his head when he spotted Prowl and Mirage. "Hey guys! What'cha doing?" He asked.

Mirage set a table back up before turning to face the grey bot. "We're just putting back together Wheeljack's lab before he comes back."

Longarm raised an eyebrow. "Whose Wheeljack?"

Trailbreaker turned around to answer the question. "He's one of the Autobots top scientists. He is also dead but once Optimus comes back we'll have him among us again."

Prowl smirked when his scanners picked up something. He looked up and saw three F-22 Raptors flying towards the island. 'That's odd' Prowl thought. 'I didn't here any planes going out on patrol.'

When he set his scanners to zoom in, he let out a great cry. "Decepticons!"

* * *

Sideswipe heard the alarm before the other humans did. He already began to zoom towards the exit as Lennox was shouting out orders and ordering the politics, like Galloway, somewhere safe.

All the Autobots, minus the femmes who were guarding the hatchlings, were already out at the landing pads with their weapons drawn. By then the three Decepticons had already transformed, revealing their identities: Thundecracker, Skywarp and Ramjet. These three were part of the elite Decepticon unit known as the Seekers, which was under the command of the decease Starsceram.

"Decepticon punks! You planning to attack us at our home base?" Cliffjumper asked as he aimed his plasma cannon at Thundercracker.

Instead of flipping out his own weapons, Thundercracker raised his hands. "We wish to defect." He snarled at the Autobots.

This caught the Autobots off guard. They were expecting some sort of desperate attack from the Decepticons, but not the desire to defect. Sideswipe stepped forward. "You three wish to defect?" The silver mech asked.

Ramjet spoke this time. "Not just us. Those under Stockade's command now have the desire to defect to the Autobots. We were sent as messengers to inform you of this."

Sideswipe contacted Prowl through the Autobot's communicator. ::Does the name Stockade ring any bells?::

Prowl replied, ::He was an officer in the Defense Force on Cybertron. Unlike the others he wasn't as violent nor was he loyal to Megatron, he was more of a Cybertronian fanatic. I suggest we meet with the rest of the group and discuss this with him in person.::

* * *

A few hours later, off the coast of California, several transport planes carrying Autobots, escorted by dozens of helicopters and the three Seekers, could be seen approaching Stockade's campsite. The campsite wasn't really much; it consisted of a few power generators, tarps to escape the heat, dozens of canisters full of oil and some other odds and ends.

Stockade, a black armor con with a visor over his optics watched as Sideswipe, Mirage, Jolt, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Prowl, Hound, and Trailbreaker exited two of the planes and transformed into their full height.

Stockade walked up and introduced himself. "Greetings I am Stockade, leader of this faction of Decepticons." Then he pointed to the others. "This is my second in command Fracture." A femme, the only one among them, she had white, black and red armor. "This is Dreadwing." A flyer con with one optic, he had black armor. "Overcast" Another Con similar to Dreadwing, one optic, he also had purple armor too. "Dropkick" A cone with purple and white armor. "Payload" A large con with one optic and had purple armor. "Swindle" A short red con with one optic. "Wreckage" A large con with white and red armor. "Incinerator" A flyer with white and purple armor with a blue visor. "And Divebomb" Another flyer with green and yellow armor.

Sideswipe raised an optic as he shook Stockade's hand. "I'm Sideswipe, temporary leader of the Autobots here. This is Colonel Lennox, field commander of NEST and these are Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Prowl, Hound, Mirage and Trailbreaker." Then he paused as he asked his question. "What do you mean leader of these Decepticons."

Stockade sighed as he explained. "The majority of Decepticons have join under the banner of a powerful Con named Overlord. The rest have scattered into small groups or just gone on their own. The Decepticons with me have chosen me as their leader. As their leader I desire to defect to the Autobots in order to save us. Where is Optimus?"

Sideswipe crossed his arms. "He's off on 'other matters' and has left me in charge of the Autobots down here. So accepting is up to me, so I have one question: How do I know I can trust you?"

Stockade sighed, as if expecting this would come up. "I'm willing provide whatever information about Overlord's group that you want. We'll fight for you and your battles, and if that does not convince you…" He paused as he got to his knees. "Kill me here and now and these Decepticons will follow you."

Sideswipe's optics widened in shock at the Con's words before looking at the other Decepticons gathered. They looked tired, low on Energon. Much of their armor was wrecked and a few of their optics dimmed slightly. Looking at Prowl for some advice, but all he could give was a shrug.

Sighing Sideswipe said. "Very well you may defect to the Autobots. But there will be a few conditions you will have to follow once doing so. I'll explain them while on drive back to Garcia."

* * *

"And that's what happened Optimus." Sideswipe said to the screen, which showed the Autobot leader. Beside him was Stockade and Colonel Lennox.

Optimus stared at the Decepticon for a moment before speaking. "You made a wise decision Sideswipe. Thanks to you and Stockade, this may bring forth an end to the war. As for you Stockade I welcome you and your group to the Decepticons to the Autobots."

Stockade said nothing but bowed his head. When the transmission was cut, a soldier came running in with a panic look on his face. "Colonel Lennox we have a problem at the hanger that the hatchlings are at."

"I'll say it one more time Autobot. Hand over those hatchlings now!" Fracture snarled with Swindle and Incinerator backing her up.

Currently Elita-1, Chromia, Arcee, Skids and Mudflap were blocking the three Decepticons from the hatchlings that were crowded around Annabelle, who had a brave face on despite looking up at the giant cons. They all looked ready for a fight, which might happen at anytime. Elita-1 activated her plasma cannon and replied. "You can't have these hatchlings. Now back off!" She shouted.

Before a fight could start the rest of the Autobots and Decepticons entered the hangar along with three platoons of soldiers, gun raised at the three Cons. "What's going on here?" Sideswipe asked.

Arcee turned to face Sideswipe. "This femme wants us to hand over the hatchlings to them."

Fracture snarled and stepped forward, earning squeaks of fright from the hatchlings. Only Hot Rod seemed unfazed, instead glaring at the Con femme. "They are Decepticon Hatchlings. They rightfully belong to us."

Chromia growled as she pointed her weapon at the femme. "You abandon them in Africa, leaving them to die. You have no right to them!"

Swindle primed his plasma cannon and prepared to fire. But instead Stockade smacked him to the side and got in between the femmes and the three cons. "Enough, Fracture, Incinerator and Swindle, stand down. It is clear the hatchlings aren't fond of us. We shall respect the Autobot's wishes and leave them alone."

"But Stockade!" Fracture said in protest. Stockade just glared at her, a sign to stand down. Sighing in defeat, Fracture stepped back, followed by the other two.

Sideswipe gave a sigh of relief before muttering, "This could be harder then I thought."

**Please, Please review**


	5. Relaxing

Ratchet sighed as he examined the 3rd Protoform today. It was a constant hassle to make sure that every system was working, that there were no loose circuits or cracks in the spark casing. He already picked three suitable Protoforms and Ratchet would probably have to recheck them when they got back to Earth. Two of them required parts that Ratchet had to salvage from other protoforms. Then there was the whole problem with Jetfire. The former Seeker's body was an older model then the current protoforms and thus it would be difficult to find a current one for him.

The sound of feet caught his attention as he looked up. He saw Optimus walking inside the med bay. "How's it going Ratchet?" The Autobot leader asked.

Ratchet shrugged as he focused back on his work. There are still some loose ends here and there. Also I'm concern about Jetfire's body." The medical officer said.

Optimus raised an eyebrow. "Why? Won't his spark be compatible with it?"

The medic sighed. "From what I could make out from his original body, or what was left of it, it was a different type of protoform body. No doubt a much older version of the ones we have today. It may take awhile for his spark to adapt to the new body we are making for him." Then he paused as he connected two more circuits together. "What's with the Wreckers?"

Optimus shrugged. "They think they'll be able to get the Ark working again. However the years of dust and low energy makes it hard to tell. Also they'll need to salvage some parts from Earth to make the ship work again."

"I doubt the humans would give us access to more of the salvage from Chicago then they already have." Ratchet replied.

Optimus nodded. "To true my friend. But we can only hope that they'll be easy on us and allow us the parts we need. But hopefully that won't be necessary."

* * *

Flare-up squeaked with delight as Chromia rubbed a sponge between her crevices. The Autobots had decided that the hatchlings were in a desperate need of a clean. So they managed to pull together a makeshift pool for the hatchlings to swim in as they filled it with solution. They made sure that the hatchlings could still touch the bottom to prevent drowning. Along with Chromia were Arcee, Elita-1, Annabelle, Sarah Lennox, and Bumblebee. Though the humans weren't doing such a good job as their metal friends were, they still enjoyed it. Watching them were Hound and Mirage, since three of the Cons were watching the whole thing from afar. Now and then Hound would hear a growl from Fracture as she watched the hatchlings interact with one of the Autobot femmes.

Downshift began splashing around wildly, chirping all the time. The water began to hit Glyph who was beginning to get upset by all the water hitting her. It also struck Fastlane, who did not like it at all and then threw a toy that Annabelle had brought with her at Downshift. This caused the tan mech to cry in shock. Arcee stared at Fastlane, "Fastlane that isn't-" But before the femme could finish, little Hot Rod grabbed Fastlane by the arm and chirped at him disapprovingly, as if scolding him. The mechling's optics drooped and squeaked back at Downshift, who was being held in Chromia's arms. It would have appeared too had been an apology for Downshift clicked back in approval.

Elita-1 smiled. "Looks like we got ourselves a leader in the making." She said as she started to clean the crevices in Hot Rod's armor. This earned a squeal from Hot Rod as he grabbed Elita's hand and stared at her adoringly.

The femmes heard a noise made by Fracture from the back. "You coddle them to much."

Chromia glared at the femme. "They're hatchlings Con. You're suppose to give them love. Though I wouldn't expect your kind to know that."

Fracture snarled at the blue femme and got up to give her a piece of her mind. This noise caused the hatchlings to hide in the water, except for Hot Rod who was glaring at the Con femme. Hound stood in between them and Fracture giving the Con a hard stare. "Get back" Hound said with a firm voice, even with a little bit of a growl. "You'll just scare them further."

Fracture gave Hound an odd look before turning around and walking out of the hangar followed by the other Cons.

The femmes let out a sigh of relief. Elita-1 then looked at the scout. "Thanks Hound. I'm surprise that she listened to you."

Hound wasn't paying attention just gave the retreating Con femme's form an odd look before replying, "No problem ma'am just doing my job."

* * *

Back in the command hangar, Colonel Lennox, Epps, Sideswipe, Prowl and Stockade were looking at a hologram image of the Con known as Overlord. To be more descriptive, the Con was almost the same size as Optimus and Megatron. His armor consisted of the colors dark blue, blue and white, along with pink horns on his helm. He looked like a mix of both a flyer and a ground cybertronian vehicle. His red optics was almost as dark as Megatrons.

"So what kind of mech is this Overlord character anyway?" Lennox asked as he looked up from the screen towards Stockade.

The former Decepticon sighed before speaking. "He was a high rank officer in the Defense Force back on Cybertron. And one of the most powerful, probably number three underneath Megatron and Shockwave. He's more ruthless then they are however, seeing battles as a game of entertainment. I never served under him directly, thank Primus, but he has proven himself to be a fearsome leader. Attacking him now would be suicide especially with the numbers we have. We had better wait for Optimus to come that way we can even the playing field."

Sideswipe nod his head, agreeing with the plan. Then he turned to Lennox who also nodded. "Fine but we'll have to hit his forces whenever they terrorize human areas too." Then he looked at Stockade. "Because you have more familiarity with these Cons, we might need your team for this."

Stockade said nothing, except nodded just as Lennox dismissed the meeting. As they walked out Prowl asked Sideswipe, "Do you think we can really trust them?" The officer asked.

Sideswipe shrugged. "Hey they haven't turned on us and Stockade is acting true to his word so I don't see any reason not to trust them. Why are you still acting suspicious?"

"Its my job to be suspicious Sideswipe." Prowl said plainly. "We have no idea what else might happen and I'm concern that they are always near the hatchlings, especially Fracture."

Sideswipe shrugged. "For now we'll have to endure it. I'm more worry how they'll be on the battlefield. If we get into another skirmish with a large group of Decepticons, we'll need their cooperation."

* * *

"Try again sweetie." Arcee said to Blaster.

The mechling let out several squeaks before trying to get on his feet again. When he did he tried to walk towards the pink femme. But just as he let his right leg out, he stumbled and fell on his butt. The hatchling's lips wobbled and his optics began to turn moist. "Awww!" Arcee said as she picked up the sniffling hatchling. "Don't cry little one, you did really well." Blaster began to calm down and then settled to snuggle into Arcee's chest, trying to get closer towards her spark.

Elsewhere the hatchlings were playing with the other Autobots while only Flare-up was playing with Annabelle. The two were playing with finger paint and were currently making…something. "Now we have to use yellow." Annabelle said to Flare-up as she poured some of the said paint into a bowl. Squeaking Flare-up smacked her hand into the bowl, spraying yellow pant everywhere, including on Annabelle. The girl gave the hatchling her best glare, causing Flare-up to whimper at the sight. But then the little girl smiled and sticking her finger into the bowl of blue paint, dabbed a little on the hatchling's head. "Gotcha ya." She exclaimed. This cause Flare-up to squeak excitedly and retaliated with more paint onto Annabelle. Soon the two were having a paint war, trying to cover the other in paint both of them giggling madly.

Hot Rod squeaked as he followed Elita-1 around the hangar. The purple bot smiled as she looked behind her, proud of the fact that the hatchling was already walking. Soon she turned around completely and picked up Hot Rod, who squeaked in shock. But then he purred as Elita gently rubbed his receptors. "I'm so glad that we found you and the others." She said softly as she rubbed her noseplate against his. Hot Rod clicked at her and then clapped his hands.

Skids and Mudflap were taking a nap after playing tag with the other hatchlings. The hatchlings still however, wanted to play, and were currently chasing each other around the twins sleeping forms. Sam and Carly had arrived after the incident with the Lennox family, and the latter currently was tickling Glyph. The little hatchling was giggling madly as gentle fingers were touching her sensitive circuits.

"These hatchlings are so cute!" Carly exclaimed as she rubbed her cheek against Glyph's. The hatchling squeaked and tried to get comfortable in the human's lap. Wheelie and Brains were currently watching the other hatchlings play around the twins, trying their best to avoid any contact. It's not that they didn't like the hatchlings, they just felt like they wouldn't be able to tend to their needs like the bigger bots could.

* * *

Elsewhere Jolt and Graham were watching as a helicopter was landing on the pad. On Jolt's shoulder was Moonracer, the hatchling had all but attached herself to the blue mech, refusing to leave his side. Jolt had actually become fond of the femme, like a brother and sister relationship. So just for today, he allowed her to be with him outside of the hangar.

"Still surprise that she agreed to come." Graham said to Jolt.

Jolt nodded. "True but from what I know of her, she feels like she owes us so that might explain her actions. Anyway here she comes." The blue bot said.

As the helicopter landed, the doors opened. A few seconds later, Mikeala came out wearing a long sleeve jean jacket and matching long blue jeans. In her hand was a toolbox and in her other was a suitcase. She looked up at Jolt and smiled. "Hey Jolt! It's been awhile."

Jolt nodded as he got to his knees. "It has Mikeala. Thanks again for coming to help me check on the sparks."

The girl nodded. "Of course. I knew that I could never get you guys out of my lives, so I figure I might as well come." Then she noticed the hatchling on Jolt's shoulder. "Oh my god Jolt who is this?" She asked

Picking up the hatchling in his hands, Jolt brought her closer for the woman to see. "This is Moonracer. A hatchling that we found in Africa."

Moonracer stared at the human before putting her fingers into her mouth and sucking on them. Mikeala cooed as the hatchling did this. "Aw she's so cute. Are there anymore?"

Jolt nodded. "Yes and you can meet them later. I assume that you'll probably want to check on the spark casings."

Mikeala knew there was more to this and asked. "Wait is Sam here?"

Jolt rubbed his head sheepishly as he placed Moonracer back on his shoulder. "Er…yes. After the attack on Annabelle and Sarah Lennox we decided that it would be safer for Sam and his…new mate to remain here on the island. Wheelie's here too if you like to see him."

Mikeala had to admit she's been thinking of the little guy for a while. But before she could respond…

"Warrior Goddess!" Wheelie's voice suddenly shouted. Jolt, Graham and the said woman turned around to see the blue drone, followed by a silver drone running straight towards them. Before she could react Wheelie launched onto her leg and gave it a tight hug. Once he was done he gave her his best puppy eye look. "I knew you come back Warrior Goddess! I knew it!"

Mikeala couldn't help but smile a little at the drone's enthusiasm. She bent down and patted him on the head. "Good to see you too Wheelie. Whose your friend."

Brains smiled at the female and replied. "The name is Brains babe. Smartest Autobot around."

Jolt rolled his optics and then motioned the others to get moving. "Perhaps you two would like to help Mikeala with the spark casings?" He asked.

Wheelie nodded excitedly. "As long as I'm with my Warrior Goddess then I'll go anywhere." Brains nodded his head in agreement.

And soon all six of them headed towards the hangar where the sparks were.

* * *

"The more I look at it the more I'm beginning to hate this whole defection idea." Payload said to Dropkick.

The two, along with Incinerator, Swindle, Wreckage and Divebomb were sharing cans of Energon and oil as they watched the humans move around them. The former Decepticons had so far isolated themselves from the rest of the population on the island, still uncomfortable with the fact they had to work alongside the same beings that they tried to kill all these centuries. However they at least got more energy supplies and had Stockade to represent them to the Autobots and Decepticons. Indeed the Con was proven a much more capable leader in the aspects of surviving together.

Divebomb shrugged. "I don't know. I think it's nice not to fight every nano-click to survive. And at least we get more energy sources then we did while we were on the run."

The others had to agree with that part and soon their conversation was cut short when two familiar voices could be heard. Walking up to them were the rest of the former Cons being led by Fracture and Stockade, the two currently arguing with each other about something. As they got closer, their argument became clearer.

"Why don't you say something to them? Those hatchlings rightfully belong to us. How come we're letting the Autobots keep them?" Fracture asked.

Stockade sighed and adjusted his visor. "For the last time, its clear that those hatchlings aren't fond of us. You know that we can't force ourselves into their lives." Then he stopped to glare at her. "Why are you so upset about this? I've never heard you complain about this before."

Fracture vented some air out and replied, "Well if I had known that Megatron had hatchlings at his little base in Africa, I would've zoomed over there and retrieve them. I just don't like how the Autobots are corrupting them to their ways."

Shaking his head Stockade continued walking. "Well for now deal with it. I'm pretty sure that there were other hatchlings brought to Earth. Perhaps we'll be lucky and the Autobots will let us take them in." He said as Divebomb tossed him a can of oil.

Fracture grumbled but said nothing else as she sat down beside Wreckage, grabbing her own canister and taking a sip of it.

* * *

Mikeala just stared at the four large glowing spheres being held up by the tables. "Wow. I never thought they would be so…so big." She said as she walked up to them, with Wheelie and Brains right behind her.

Jolt nodded as he set Moonracer down on a nearby table, giving her a stuff teddy bear to play with. "Ironhide's was the difficult one. Due to the rust affecting his body Ratchet had to act fast to save it. Even then there were a few cracks on the casing but not enough to put the spark itself in any danger."

MIkeala looked up at Jolt. "I'm guessing that would've have been bad." She said.

Jolt nodded. "Yes if even the slightest amount of outside air got through the casing, it could cause the spark to dissipate and the energy would cease to exist, thus terminating the spark." He paused so he could adjust the tubes feeding the sparks energy. "Fortunately Ratchet managed to recover several Decepticon spark casings and not as damaged as their original ones, thus making it easier for us to conatin the sparks inside them."

Mikeala sighed as she put down her bag. "Well I guess we better get to work and make sure these are ready for their new bodies."

The next two hours human and bot began working on setting the sparks to a better level of control. Along with that they make sure to adjust the energon being fed into the sparks, making sure there was no contamination was seeping into the sparks. During that time Moonracer had fallen into recharge, purring away peacefully. Wheelie and Brains had placed a blanket over her so she could be comfortable and then remained beside her so they could watch over her while Jolt and Mikeala were working.

* * *

Elsewhere the femmes were busy tucking the other hatchlings to sleep. They were having problems with some of them. Blaster refused to leave Bumblebee and would only settle down once he was safely in the yellow bot's arms. Downshift and Flare-up were clicking with rage, refusing to leave Chromia, the same with Hot Rod.

In the end Chromia and Elita both held the hatchlings in their arms, the little bundles clicking with delight as they snuggled close to their sparks.

"You know" Elita said to her younger sister. "We're going to have to assign caretakers to them once Optimus's team comes back."

Chromia nodded while watching as Flare-up and Downshift clicked to each other. A few seconds later their optics began to dim and they both let out yawns, snuggling deeper into Chromia's frame. At this the blue femme smiled. She was a soldier and she never had the chance to experience such things as caring for a hatchling. True she had always wondered what it would be like to have a hatchling with Ironhide, but the war had taken so much from them that they never had chance. Maybe now with the war almost over they could now have the chance once Optimus had returned. As Chromia laid the two hatchlings onto their recharge berth, Chromia only thought one thing.

"_For them Primus let this peace last."_


End file.
